National Pension Service Acquires 34,455 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) by 19.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 210,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,455 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $56,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRSK. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verisk Analytics in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Verisk Analytics in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verisk Analytics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verisk Analytics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. 90.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Elizabeth Mann sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.33, for a total value of $54,266.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,289,184.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verisk Analytics Stock Performance

Shares of VRSK opened at $279.68 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.34 and a 52 week high of $287.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $269.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $263.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.86.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.07. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 274.13% and a net margin of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $725.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $722.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. Verisk Analytics’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Verisk Analytics’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRSK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Verisk Analytics from $243.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $279.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $285.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Verisk Analytics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verisk Analytics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.80.

Verisk Analytics Profile

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.